Hope Found
Last week, we considered what it is like to be without hope. As followers of Jesus, it is our responsibility to continuously point people to the hope that is in Jesus Christ.
False Remedies
We live in a time when all kinds of false hopes are offered as solutions to real problems. In the Spring 2014 unit of Bible Studies for Life, Pete Wilson explains, “We live in a culture that floods us with remedies. We try to mask our ‘lives of quiet desperation’ (to borrow from Thoreau) with pharmaceutical remedies, religious practices, a change in lifestyle, or a calendar full of activities. We can try to mask our need, but we can’t remove it.”1 Like placebos in place of antibiotics, there are plenty of false, ineffective hopes.
The ministry of Jesus on this earth was a ministry of hope. Whether healing people (Matthew 8:1-9), forgiving people (John 8:2-11), or teaching His followers about the kingdom of God, Jesus exuded hope. Real hope. Jesus was and is the hope of Israel and the world. It is little wonder the Apostle Paul related the mystery of salvation to the hope found in Christ: “God wanted to make known among the Gentiles the glorious wealth of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”2
When we run to the false remedies offered in culture, we receive the worst of all assurances: false hope. False hope is not bad only because the object of the hope is weak, but also because we are deceived into thinking we have real hope. We stop looking for real hope since false hope has settled our hearts and minds.
There is hope for you
What are areas of your life where you need hope? Marriage? Parenting? Ministry? Education? Friendships? Never allow any one of those to become the object of your eternal hope. Temporary solutions never build eternal hope. Look to Jesus and Him alone so that your hope, as the hymn says, will be “built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.”
If you have not yet checked out Bible Studies for Life, I want to encourage you to do so. It is a biblically grounded, ongoing Bible study. It provides practical application in every session so those who use it are not left with head knowledge only. Click here to get more information on the unit studies, and here to friend Bible Studies for Life on Facebook.
Yours for the Great Commission,
Ronnie W. Floyd
Senior Pastor, Cross Church
General Editor, Bible Studies for Life
1– Bible Studies for Life, Let Hope In, by Pete Wilson
2– Colossians 2:27, HCSB
Dr. Ronnie Floyd is the President & CEO of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee.
Leading Your Church in a Sunday Morning Prayer Meeting | Just Imagine
On Sunday morning, October 13, 2013, I led our entire Cross Church Family in a prayer meeting. I believed it was time to issue a call to the Cross Church Family for spiritual revival in the church and spiritual awakening in America.
Our Purpose
Why dedicate an entire Sunday morning service to a prayer meeting? I felt God leading me to alert our Cross Church family of the need for spiritual revival and awakening in America. I lead them through a spiritual process that was both personal and sequential, and then sent our church out with a burden for revival and a hope for the future. Revival is the manifestation of the presence of God in our lives. Revival begins with me. Revival begins with you.
A Personal Conviction
I have a personal conviction about why we pray for revival and awakening. Personally, I believe we need to pray for personal revival, revival in the church, and awakening in the nation, so that we can see the Great Commission of Jesus Christ escalated and accelerated to completion in our generation. I am compelled to call the church to revival and the country to be awakened spiritually, so that we can see the completion of the Great Commission in our generation.
Word-Based, Spirit-Led, and Worshipful
We focused solely on praying, and everything we did was based upon the Word of God. I took the Word of God, read it, taught it briefly, and then led our people to respond to God through prayer. Throughout the worship experience of teaching and prayer, we expressed various moments through songs of worship.
Prayer Times Built Upon Biblical Principles
I taught through five specific principles, spending four to six minutes on each.
- A Vision for Revival in the Church and Awakening in the Nation
- The Exceeding Sinfulness of our Sin
- Cleansing and Renewal
- Fully Surrendering to the Lordship of Jesus Christ and Experiencing the Fullness of the Holy Spirit
- Advancing the Gospel Everywhere
After each principle was taught from God’s Word, we moved to prayer. We prayed silently, we prayed together, we prayed on our knees, we prayed standing, and we prayed at the altar. My desire was to lead by the Spirit’s direction; built upon the Word of God, responding to God through prayer, and expressed through worship.
It was a Wonderful Experience
Without a doubt, the entire service was a wonderful experience. Lay people and pastors want to pray. Those who do not know how to pray want to learn to pray effectively. As spiritual leaders, we need to create a pathway for them. It was a highly memorable day for many, and life changing for some.
Just Imagine…
Just imagine what would happen in America if every church spent an entire Sunday morning worship service focused on prayer for revival in the church and awakening in America? Just imagine what would happen if each of those services led toward praying about advancing the gospel of Jesus Christ regionally, nationally, and internationally, calling upon the church to rise up and complete the Great Commission in our generation?
I am convinced that every great movement of God is preceded by the extraordinary prayer of God’s people. Now is the time we rise up as the church of Jesus Christ and elevate prayer in our churches. If we are not careful, we will reduce prayer in local church worship services to routine and less important than announcements.
Jonathan Edwards said it This Way
Jonathan Edwards, the man God used as the catalyst for the 1st Great Awakening said,
“So it is God’s will that the prayers of His saints shall be great and the principal means of carrying on the designs of Christ’s Kingdom in the world. When God has something to accomplish for His church, it is with His will that there should precede it the extraordinary prayer of His people.”
Oh friend, just imagine, if every church in America turned just one entire worship service into a prayer service, calling upon the God of Heaven to bring revival into our lives personally, in His church, and awakening in our nation, so that we can see the Great Commission escalated and accelerated to completion in our generation.
Yours for the Great Commission,
Ronnie W. Floyd
Dr. Ronnie Floyd is the President & CEO of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee.